Sue Shannon, Rowlett: I love the public transportation in Rowlett and surrounding areas. We would never have considered living in Rowlett if it were not for the George Bush Turnpike. We have used the DART lately to go to downtown Dallas and enjoy all that is available there — no parking hassles, no fighting traffic. We love it.

Larry Jerden, Rowlett: After paying the DART sales tax for 20 something years, I was excited last year when the Blue Line trains finally began service to Rowlett. Like most Rowlett citizens, I was disappointed when DART chose to use a grade crossing on busy Rowlett Road, but we are learning to live with it. But who took the “RAPID” out of our “Rapid Transit?” After all that waiting, we now ride to Garland at a sedate 45 mph, watching the cars on Highway 66 pass us by. As soon as we leave downtown Garland for Dallas, the speed picks up. DART needs to fix this, or it seems we have spent millions of dollars and waited decades, only to receive a second-class product: Dallas Area Slow Transit.

Ed Schwaneke, Rockwall: I’m OK with what we have in Rockwall. Interesting to note that Mesquite is quitting dart because, “The federal grant money that has fueled Mesquite Transit for the Elderly and Disabled for two decades will no longer be available to a city that doesn’t offer transit services to its full population.” (The Dallas Morning News, May 14, 2014) The federal government is trying to direct every facet of our lives.

LaQueata Brown, Rowlett: I enjoy our new DART rail system in Rowlett. It gives me an opportunity to visit downtown Dallas and the Arts District. I can enjoy shopping at the Mockingbird station, I can visit other suburbs on some of the other lines and other places that I don’t get to visit often. I drive so many miles each day from Rowlett to West Plano for work and I get really tired of driving all the time so using the rail system is a much needed break from daily traffic.

Karen Jacobs, Heath: Steve Brown’s article in the business section of The Dallas Morning News on May 16 noted that the metroplex will experience an additional one million people by 2020. That’s only six years away. The public transportation we have today in Rockwall County is very limited and does not connect us to the broader metroplex. Anyone who has commuted over the I-30 bridge has experienced the grinding traffic in the mornings and evenings. We need a broader plan that is not just more automobiles if we are going to continue to be a desirable location to live in. Is DART the answer? I don’t know, but what we have today won’t suffice in the not too distant future.

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